


Save Myself

by DefaltManifesto



Series: 30 Day Song Lyric Challenge [22]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 19:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13107072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefaltManifesto/pseuds/DefaltManifesto
Summary: She dreams of Corrin being ripped form her arms. She rages against the Nohr forces that stand between her and her sister and falls before she can reach her. Then she wakes up and uses the anger from her dreams as fuel for the day.





	Save Myself

**Author's Note:**

> If you recognize where I took the name of Hinoka's Pegasus and also some other elements of this fic, then we should be friends. 
> 
> I've been really excited about this fic so I hope you all like it! Today's lyric is from Ed Sheeran's Save Myself:
> 
> ""So before I save someone else/I've got to save myself"

Hinoka bites her cheek hard to stop from yelling as her Pegasus dumps her for the sixth time that morning. The beast snorts and tosses his head before prancing away. Hinoka takes a deep breath and pushes herself up as she tries to reassess the best way to approach her unruly mount.

“Ah, Lady Hinoka! How’s your training treating you?”

Hinoka turns to see Subaki leaning against the railing of the pen, an easy going smile on his face. It makes her angrier.

“Not well,” she says. “Peachblossom doesn’t like me much.”

“Do you mind if I…” Subaki trails off and gestures towards the Pegasus.

“Be my guest,” she says.       

Subaki hops over the fence and approaches Peachblossom. He keeps his body posture relaxed the way Hinoka knows she’s supposed to but hasn’t been able to accomplish since Corrin was taken. He mumbles some soft platitudes and Peachblossom trots right up. Subaki pets his nose for a moment before moving alongside him and hopping into the saddle. Hinoka tries to hide her frustration.

She hops up on the fence and watches Subaki take her mount through his paces before dismounting and giving him a carrot for a treat. Subaki smiles as he heads over to her, but his expression falls when he sees her face.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“All he does when I ride him is drop me on my ass,” she says.

“L-Lady Hinoka!”

She rolls her eyes. “Whatever. I’ll go practice with Oboro. I’m better off as a foot soldier.”

Subaki catches her wrist before she can turn and jump down. “Hey. Pegasi are sensitive to emotions. Maybe he keeps dumping you because he can feel how upset you are.”

“Well I’m never not gonna be angry until Corrin is back,” Hinoka says.      

Subaki nods. “I know. So make him want to help you.”

“And how do I do that?”

“Well you might not like that part…”

           

-.-

 

It takes a month for the stable-hands to get used to Hinoka sleeping in the stables. She showers every day and she permanently smells like horse anyways, but she always smells like horse but it’s worth it because Peachblossom actually let her train properly now.

"Your dedication is admirable but I think he likes you fine now,” Subaki says, leaning over the stable door.

“When I’m stronger, then I’ll leave,” she says. “Until then, me and him are in it together.”

Subaki smiles. “Got it. But can you spare some time to spar?”

           

-.-

 

Subaki kicks her ass routinely. It’s infuriating, but it fuels her drive to get better so she supposes it’s better to go up against someone who’s a challenge. She spends her days training with Peachblossom and the rest of the recruits and her nights packing her practice lances full of sand to help build her muscle faster. She runs through her exercises in the hallway of the stables until she’s drenched in sweat and her arms shake. Then it’s a shower followed by a fast collapse into clean hay.

She dreams of Corrin being ripped form her arms. She rages against the Nohr forces that stand between her and her sister and falls before she can reach her. Then she wakes up and uses the anger from her dreams as fuel for the day. Sakura eats dinner with her sometimes. She rarely sees her brothers, too committed to be her training and they too committed to the war effort.

A year later, she empties the lead she’d started to use a few months ago out of her lance. The first few exercises she nearly brains herself with it, not used to how light it feels, but by the end of her session, she’s got enough power behind her thrusts she could easily pierce weakened armor and enough speed to block and attack in the span of a second. She goes to sleep grinning.

 

-.-

 

The next morning, she asks their trainer to fight off her fifteen person squad. It’s ambitious, and it’s not as though Hinoka had been miles ahead in her training, but she’s got speed and power she didn’t have before. If she wants to be on the front lines by spring, passing the final test usually laid before them a year early will do it.

"Ambitious, Lady Hinoka,” Yugao says with a short nod. “Your peers will not go easy on you because of your status.”

“I hope not,” Hinoka says.

Subaki pulls her aside as they head towards one of the larger training arenas, arm tight on her bicep.

“Are you crazy?” he asks. “You’ve worked really hard Hinoka, but you don’t have the skill or stamina for this. _I_ don’t have the skill or stamina.”

Hinoka jerks her arm free. “Subaki, I need to do this. Corrin is out there, somewhere, and she’s growing up not knowing her real family. The sooner I’m out on the field, the sooner I cut down their forces and bring her home.” She grins. “And I think you’re underestimating me.”

She takes her place at the center of the arena, practice lance in hand as her squad mates form a ring around her. At Yugao’s signal, they’ll attack and if Hinoka makes it out on the other side standing, then she’s passed what would have been their final test a year from now and move on early. She’s confident, but there’s a chance she’s not strong enough. A deep breath in and a slow breath out calms that fear.

“Go,” Yugao says.

Hinoka lets her training move her. She deflects the first blow and moves fluidly into the next move, kicking back before swinging her lance to get some breathing room. From there, it’s a few quick hits to disarm two of her team and send another sprawling on the ground clutching at a cracked rib. The move leaves her cocky and Subaki manages to knock her feet from under her. She rolls and dodges the next few attacks before vaulting back onto her feet and catching one member in the face.

She’s not quite quick enough to block an attack from Subaki and it knocks the breath out of her. She slides her lance under his and forces him away again before slamming her lance into the ground and using it to brace herself as she launches into the air lands a two-footed blow to one of her teammate’s chests and sending her sprawling. As she lands, she yanks her lance free and blocks an attack from the front and then behind before sweeping her opponent’s legs out from underneath them.

“Hyah!”

The noise alerts her to Subaki’s attack and she gets her lance up just in time to block. His eyes widen as she holds him at bay with strength he hadn’t known she had and she smirks before launching up, knocking him back before pressing the wood tip of her blade to his neck in what would be a killing blow if they’d been true enemy’s. Subaki freezes and Hinoka glances around the field.

Her teammate’s are scattered about, some sitting, some still lying down, and others just getting to their feet. Yugao smiles from the sidelines. Elated, she looks back at Subaki, but there’s a look of anger and something else in his eyes. Her happiness fizzles away as he eases back and steps away. She shoves her worry away. She accomplished what she wanted and that was what mattered.

 

-.-

 

“Still here?”

Hinoka looks up from her book to see Subaki leaning over the stable door like usual. “Yeah?”

“I just thought you’re going to move on now ahead of all of us,” Subaki says. “Didn’t think you’d stay this committed to what you’d been doing.”

“I’ll go back to the palace when I have my sister,” Hinoka says. “Besides, Peachblossom makes a good pillow.”

Subaki laughs and bows his head. “Yeah…I guess he does.” He’s silent for a moment before looking back up at her with a serious gaze. “I wanted to apologize for earlier. I’m proud of you, Hinoka, but disappointed in myself. You must’ve put in so much extra work to get that strong and fast when weren’t looking. I should have worked as hard as you.”

Hinoka sighs and gets to her feet, letting the book drop to the ground as she comes to meet him at the door. “I’m sorry for hiding my training from you. I just…I needed to get stronger on my own you know? Prove to myself that I could do this.”

“I get it,” he says and then smiles. “So what did you do?”

“Hollowed out my lance and filled it with sand,” Hinoka says. “And then later, I had a stable hand put lead in it.”

Subaki’s smile wavers. “Right. I’ll do the same. Don’t think you can beat me that easily!”

Hinoka laughs. “I look forward to seeing you on the battlefield, right by my side.”

           


End file.
